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By John BristowComments Off on Patterns in Innovation & Change: Use of the Internet

This is the second of two discussion in September 2014 with Akvo in London.

This is the second of two discussion in September 2014 with Akvo in London. This one is between Mark Charmer, Director of Communications and myself. As with the first discussion this can be viewed on YouTubeby clicking on video under each of the five headings below when you scroll down.

Mark Charmer

John Bristow

The first discussion covered how Akvo with their software tools and training helps people to use the internet and mobile communications to monitor aid activity for international development more easily and share the information in different media quickly and effectively with others. This can increase the connectivity between the organisations involved locally and internationally so that they can solve problems, network, learn and innovate together more effectively and quickly to address urgent needs. The use of the internet and mobile communications can also enable them to discover and learn more effective and efficient ways of organising and free people up to make a big difference more quickly – and see the results. For more info: see the first discussion and/or visit their website.

Their purpose as an organisation is directly relevant to one of the aims of my website: to promote use of the internet for creating the infrastructure and relationships for faster problem solving, learning and innovation to address the problems of this century, and to help bring about transformational changes where needed in the systems which shape the way we think, feel and act and through which our societies are informally and formally co-ordinated and organised – in this case helping poorer countries to lift themselves out of poverty.

In this the second discussion we drew out of examples some of the enabling conditions for systemic changesin complex systems to keep pace with the challenges of our times. We started with how the use of the internet that Akvo supports in the area of international development can foster these conditions and the learning together needed to make the changes. Diversity with integration, stability with change, self-organising alongside direction, boundaries and control – and ease of data collection for monitoring and for fast, honest and valid feedback, were some of the characteristics of these enabling conditions.

Changes in the way aid organisations work and work together are systemic, as they are not just working in the same way and making improvements as best they can within the current system and way of working. They are transformational changes in the system in which they work – the system guiding the thinking, decisions, actions, behaviour of the people and organisations, and the connectivity, interaction and cooperation between them. The system as a whole, which they create together through their actions and exchanges, moves into another form. Having the tools and training to use the internet and mobile communications differently can help bring these changes about. We need such systemic change, we suggest, to make best use of aid to help poorer countries to meet the basic human needs of people within them, and to ensure that big investments in their infrastructure fit the requirements of these countries in the 21st century.